Midsouth PC HT Craziness

I encountered another first this weekend. It was the first time I have ever competed more than two horses at once and I can now say I have a newfound respect for anyone who competes more than two horses at one event. It was a crazy weekend and it ended up being educational for all involved. I had four students riding, competed my mare, and competed two friends green horses.

Friday there were only two dressage rides. Mira went first and since her behavior is about as mercurial as the famous Christian Grey she had a not so stellar test. We went from an amazing 33.5 at Indiana HT to a 44.3 at this show. While it put us in second to last, it was still a qualifying score and I am well aware she (and I) are capable of doing much better than that. Next went Elisa and her mare Marley, who have been riding with me for a little over a month and are showing steady improvement. They also achieved a qualifying score, but we all know Marley is a much better jumping bean than DQ, so all is well.

Saturday was the crazy day. There were 4 XC rides, 5 dressage rides, and 3 show jump rounds in all. My day was set to be wild. I made the mistake of drinking one of those 5-hr energy drinks in the morning before we got to the Horse Park and because of that little bottle of stimulant I was shaking like a kid who has had too much sugar and walked into an amusement park. Mira was foot perfect on cross-country and we were up on the clock until about fence 14 when I slowed her a bit, knowing we would be pretty good on time and still a little apprehensive to push because of our still mysterious metabolic holdups. Elisa and Marley got around their first prelim clean and looking excellent, much more controlled than in the past. Then we went into some dressage rides. Chelsea was a bit nervous, so Weber fed off of her. They had some hairy moments in dressage warm-up (Weber felt there needed to be some jumps out there), but went in and put in a pretty good dressage test. Following them were Kandace and my wonder horse Cameron at their first recognized event. As always Cameron put in a very steady test. That horse is so amazing. I was so blessed to have had him as long as I did. It was then my turn again on a green sale horse, Ted (Return to Sender) who walked all the way from Egypt (where the trailers were parked) to the dressage like a champ (even when some kid on a bicycle tried to mow us down). He was a little worried in warm-up but once in the dressage ring decided he was a big kid and actually put in a really steady test. Following Ted I ran (ok on a golf cart courtesy of my awesome older sister) out to cross country to warm-up Chelsea. She was again pretty nervous (having not competed since last summer) but worked very hard on keeping calm. She and Web had some sticky moments on cross country and ended up calling it a day about ¾ of the way around the course, not because of elimination, but so that she could teach Web the lesson of patience with his rider. I then ran back to dressage in time to see Catherine and her wonder pony put in a test worthy of admiration. (I am so proud of her and that pony, mostly because of the confidence he has given her) And again back out to cross country (can you say running like a chicken with its head cut off?) to help Kandace and Cameron get going. Cameron was his usual goofball self in the start box, shaking his head and demanding to start like someone lit a fire under his bum, but went out and showed Kandace just why I loved him so much. Then it was back to dressage for me to ride, Julie Congleton's awesome little mare, Lola. Julie had a crazy busy week judging at the Midsouth Pony Club Rally so when she asked me if I would ride Lola I was honored. Lola is a dressage machine, so showing off in the dressage ring was right up her alley. And then before the day was through Ted, Lola, and Ransom pony all had to show jump. Each went in the ring like old hands and jumped double clean. I was so proud of everyone Saturday, but went home and was in bed by 8pm.

                                                   photo courtesy of Perry Photographic :)

Sunday was the last of the early days. I was supposed to be the second horse in the show jump ring, but when another rider scratched I was up first. I was exhausted and Mira had on her wings, so we would have jumped clean if I had been allowed to sleep for 6 more hours. I quit riding at fence 9A on a very winding course so we had one rail, but at least I know it was my fault. As always Marley was perfect and jumped brilliantly for Elisa. We finished 9^th and 12^th respectively in a large Preliminary division. Cameron and Kandace jumped into 7^th place in their large Novice division. Then Ted ran cross country like he had been doing it for years, and Lola jumped around the same (putting Julie in tears because the “fiesta table” didn’t cause us any problems) and with the pony bringing up the rear and finishing in stellar fashion. Lola finished 6^thand Ted finished 8^th in their large BN division, and the pony finished a stellar 5^th in his division of over 25 rides!

All in all it was an incredible weekend for Shamrock Eventing although I was so exhausted Sunday I slept for almost 13 hours between Sunday afternoon and Monday. We look forward to Cobblestone HT coming up in July. Mira is well on the track to do the CCI 1 Star at the fall Midsouth HT, hopefully Ted will sell soon, and the rest of the crowd is excited about the upcoming shows. Oh! And not to forget, the pony will be competing at the Area championships at Cobblestone. Wish us all luck in training!

TTFN~
Mandy

Well it seems I haven't written in awhile. I feel I need to just clear the air. I should in all sensibility write about Indiana Horse Trials and how much of an interesting weekend it was, but I want to write about understanding the pain of entering an event (of any kind) and not actually getting to compete. There is nothing worse and sometimes people can be critical about you, your horse, your training (all kinds), the events you enter (on foot, wheels, or horse), the food you eat, and any other number of "getting there" techniques. In the end it either works or it doesn't, but when circumstances are beyond your control its just that much worse.

I have dealt with getting to an event and not getting to compete. it happened to me more than once with Cameron. The two worst were at Poplar at the CIC 2 star where I made a bad decision in that I chose to use a double bridle in dressage, against advice from my trainer and ended up having a disastrous unqualifying test. At the time Cameron had already been around the intermediate course there, so it wasn't worth wasting his legs just to jump around when my score put us far down on the leaderboard and it wasn't a qualifying score. Then there were the two times I entered Richland, the first time at Advanced, when I had a horrible trailer accident and didn't get to go. The second was at the CIC 3 star when I had entered and because Cam had jumped around Millbrook and came up lame afterwords we had to scratch. All of those times I lost large sums of money, caused untold stress and heartache to myself and my team, and managed to lick my wounds and keep on kicking.

As you all know I learned about the Tough Mudder event last fall when I saw some fellow eventers do on in Virginia. I was hooked. We all know I am somewhat of an adrenaline junky (skydiving and eventing just aren't enough) and am always looking for new more challenging activities. Along with a couple of friends I entered the Tough Mudder the was set for March 18th in Attica, Indiana. I was stoked. It was October 2011 so we had plenty of time to train for this grueling obstacle course event. Well, as we all know in late February the TMHQ sent an email that the safety officials felt March in Indiana was too cold, so they chose to move the event to June. We stayed with our Sunday time (June 17th) and while we were disappointed we figured the weather would be better and we had even more time to train.

Well we went this past weekend. We set out with a team of 6, "Asses from the Bluegrass" to do our first Tough Mudder. The trip to Indiana was uneventful. We had a good dinner and went to bed later than we should have because we were so excited. I was exhausted so when Olivia woke me at 12:30AM I was super confused. She said we had all just received an email stating that the Sunday TM was canceled. After about 15 minutes of serious contemplation (arguing) and internet research on our cell phones we found out because they had, had bad storms Saturday afternoon that they were canceling Sunday. Naturally we were all distraught and couldn't believe this was happening. We drove 5+ hours, got a hotel, ate dinner out, had t-shirts made, took time off work, and planned on having a kickass time at this thing the next morning and now because of some rain we were unable. AND unlike horse shows there was no phone number to call and no one to talk to, to ask if they could just start a little later. The next morning we drove up to the site and to our sad surprise there was not a bit of standing water near the start/finish.

                     This is just past the start/finish area...HUGE puddle (<--Insert sarcasm here)

 I understand there is a safety issue with getting emergency personnel to the back of the course, but like I said, if they had just started later...

        And this one is the monkey bars...its about 100 feet before the first picture..no mud in sight....

 The other difference is at least they gave us a free entry to another of their events. Sadly though I am not sure if I will be able to attend one this year due to conflicts on all of the other weekends. I think I will be on a mission to try to make the Missouri one work. It is fall break weekend after all.

So now I have a little inkling as to how it feels to be all of those people that wanted to run Badminton this year. My little adventure doesn't compare in the slightest to the money that those people spent (flying themselves and their horses to England, living expenses, etc) but I do understand the heartache. You prepare for these things and think there is no way weather can get in the way, but sadly because of all of the climate changes we have had, the weather ends up being the most deciding factor in many adrenaline fused activities. Personally, I say bring on the tough weather, it just makes it that much more of an achievement when you finish. That and the devastation that this weekend caused is extremely hard on a person as neurotic as I am :(

And yes it is called a Tough MUDDER....so naturally more rain would make it better right? Guess not....

signing off~
Mandy

Cross-Country Schooling!

Schooling cross-country. Another phrase that can bring dread to some people, to others it brings excitement and promise of an adrenaline rush. The Kentucky Horse Park Foundation generously puts on schooling days at the Park throughout the summer which provide the Eventing crowd a chance to jump fences on the famous course. Yesterday was the first one of the season and naturally it became somewhat of a clusterf**k as usual(which was not necessarily because of the astronomical number of people there or the craziness of riders and horses careening EVERYWHERE). If you haven’t been around me that much then you don’t know my middle name should be either klutz or clusterf**k.  SO since everyone loves stories here goes.

The plan: take Ransom/Catherine G, Marley/Elisa, Ted/Maggie,  and Junood/myself (with Sara/Everest out to hack) to meet Skip/Catherine D  and Eveen/Keebler (dubbed our fun Irish friends) out to school some lower level stuff in the evening on Wednesday. I knew Elisa was my only Preliminary person so she would get to school some big stuff while we did the little stuff. We were supposed to meet at the KHP between 5:30/6PM.  And since I am a bit neurotic about time (and everything else) I wanted to leave the farm as soon as everyone got there, so I got home early and brought Ransom and Ted in.

 That's Marley and Elisa on the right :)

The actual happening: Maggie had to fit a saddle to Ted since she is looking at him as a potential horse to buy (shameless plug here- Ted is for sale, 16.2hh TB gelding- FANTASTIC jumper, tons of potential and cheap!) so she wanted to take him schooling with us. Well, she had to change her air vest cord from one saddle to the other..we are now ten minutes behind. Me being the impatient person I am I decide to go load Ransom and Ted while she is doing this. Meanwhile Elisa pulls her rig around behind Catherine’s and tries to load Marley. Tries is the operative word here. Marley said she wasn’t keen on getting on the trailer today, so sorry it sucks to be us.  It ended up taking much prodding and Marley finally walked on ( in all fairness it was a Brenderup and according to Elisa they don’t even sell those trailers in the US anymore...I could say something snarky here, but well I like Elisa and the trailer actually wasn’t as much of a death trap as I thought those trailers were…must be the reason they didn’t make it in the US..) We are now 25 minutes behind.

Next we head to the park. I told Sara  (Junoods owner) to go in the campground entrance because as we all know that’s the way to go to the schooling area start. She called me while we were driving and said that way was closed. We decide to re-route to the main entrance. I then tell Catherine to over the dam bridge (the one we walk over for Rolex) because that way is faster too. She gets up there and it is also closed off because of the hunter show that is going on. We have to re-route a 3^rd time now (and were 40 minutes behind. Catherine and Eveen have been waiting for us for over an hour now but their Irish and good natured so they were willing to wait) and come upon the state vet. I always hate meeting the state vet. Most of them don’t know anything about horses, all they do is check the dates on your paperwork. God forbid they hire a horse person to do this, that would be beyond the State of Kentucky’s thought process.  We get through and head on up to the schooling area (on the other end of the park). I get a phone call from Catherine as we go to park (she wasn’t right behind us… her coggins on Ted has expired and she forgot to check it. They won’t let her through.  

Now we are in open panic mode (with me telling Elisa every five seconds, "wouldn't it be funny if?"- she was not amused...she asked why it would be funny, I said because its better than saying, "I'll be *!^%@^. pissed off if..")<-- another aside here..people get really frustrated with my neurosis..I know I say things like, "house on fire" and "wouldn't it be funny if" among other things..its what makes me who I am. :)

We  are an hour and a half behind and we now have to take Elisa’s rig back to the front of the park to pick up the pony so that Catherine can school. Maggie has volunteered to take Ted home. Catherine is upset and feels really bad, but we get everything moved (with the state vet dude staring at us the whole time) and finally head back up to the schooling area (did I mention it was at the other end of the park?).

 RANSOM! Adorable pony!

In the end we finally get on and go schooling. We picked up a new person who came with our Irish friends, Miriam and her adorable shire cross, Baby. Elisa had a brilliant school with Marley (sometimes all it takes is a bit change) and Ransom pony jumped brilliantly, even over some training level questions (Catherine really NEEDED that). Eveen and Miriam jumped some stuff I think they would never had tried if I hadn’t been there and we corrected some habits of Catherine D and Skip so their schooling went from a bit frantic at first to absolutely lovely by the end. Junood was out for his first cross-country school and bless him it was a MADHOUSE out there! I think everyone and their brothers’ mother came out to school! He handled it extremely well and other than a severe dislike for the ditch (we have to work on that more, I am not keen on camel jumping) ß don’t ask me how I know what a camel looks like when it jumps, he ended up being extremely brave and jumping everything else, including the banks and running through the water. In the end he had settled mightily and I got a text from Sarah later that evening that for the first time ever he was not stressed on the trailer ride home…maybe we need to stress him with hundreds of horses galloping around more often.

 Junood (Rolex here he comes!)

So now you know how our clusterf**k of a school went. I am extremely proud of the whole group. We had such a positive outing. I look forward to what it means for us for the summer.  For now safe travels and good luck to all.

Signing off~

Mandy 

Horse Show Attire

This past weekend most of you know I scribed at the Spring Bay HT. It was tons of fun and I’ll talk about that in another post. What I want to talk about today is something else. We all know when we go to horse shows we should be turned out properly right? Some of us (me) never did Pony Club but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what proper show attire is and better yet, some of the people I saw were riding for bigger name trainers in the area and were even more poorly turned out than the ignorant crowd. My main “rant” about this is something I was told many times by many different trainers/mentors/friends/parents- “ a well turned out horse and rider adds confidence.” It’s also courteous to the judge, the volunteers, your trainer, any owner you might be riding for, heaven forbid a potential sponsor, college recruiter, organizers, and yourself. I have to say I was slightly appalled at some of what I saw this weekend. Let’s have a rundown of proper as opposed to improper.

Let’s start with the helmet. As we all know approved helmets are now required and as most of you know I am a HUGE helmet advocate. Its amazing how one little piece of equipment can mean life and death, but better yet it’s EASY to wear. Most people have gone to a velvet or similar type helmet, and as long as it’s black and fits you properly, great, wear it. Even helmet covers are ok, as long as they fit and are black. It didn’t happen in my ring, but seriously, you would go in a ring with not only an old dirty helmet cover on and think people wouldn’t notice? Not only that but when the judge says something to you about it, be nice, take the critique and FIX IT. Don’t come back in the SAME ring three more times with the same helmet! Eventers are nice! BORROW! 

And what about the hair? I can’t say I am a huge fan of those gaudy show-bows, but at least your hair is neatly put away in them. When your hair is flying out the sides of your helmet like Pegasus wings- don’t you think your horse might be a bit embarrassed? Seriously- the horses are here for us and ol Flash does not like it when you’re trying to help him around the ring with your hair just a-flappin in the breeze. Either put it in the helmet (although Charles Owen says no ponytails up in helmets) or better yet WEAR A HAIRNET and if that still doesn’t help…get hairspray…it’s only one day and it washes out.

Now on to clothing. A black or navy blue coat is appropriate, and it should be long enough to cover your seat, but not so long it’s a dress and not so short it looks like a sweatshirt. And if your shoes are too small you wouldn’t wear them…same goes for the coat. A stock tie is absolutely necessary, and while even I used to have the dreaded “pre-tie” at least it was clean and pressed, not dirty yellow and wrinkled (oh yeah…saw a bunch of those). On to gloves. I don’t know what trainer in their right mind would send their kids into the arena in white gloves. In case it was confusing- white gloves show EVERY movement of your hands. If you aren’t Anky Van Grunsven don’t wear them. Even when I ran around a 2* and advanced and wore tails even I didn’t wear them.. I don’t want the judge noticing if I have an attack of the “it” hands. 

Your breeches can be white or tan, but if they are white…keep them clean…seriously, no putting on hoof polish, baby oil, petting your horse, cleaning tack, etc. while they are on…if you rub your hand on your pants..we all know. And finally your tallboots. Just clean em- that’s all. Don’t come in the ring looking like you have been wallowing in a mud pit with the pigs (that is unless its pouring rain and your slogging around in the mud just desperatly trying not to drown).

And NOW your horse. If it has white, BATHE IT. If it has been wallowing with you in the mud then BATHE IT. There is little worse than trotting around the arena on a dirty horse. If it’s too cold then hot towel and again eventers are generally an amiable crowd…if somewhere in your schooling no one taught you to hot towel, someone will show you. Let’s move on to braiding. If your bad at it DON'T DO IT. Ask a friend, pay someone, ask that friendly person in the next stall, but if you come down to the ring with your horse looking like he stuck his mane in a blender and you put rubber bands around it that is just as disrespectful as going without braids and if that’s what they look like then not braiding is a better choice. Finally, CLEAN YOUR TACK. It’s THAT simple.  Grab a sponge and some dishwashing soap (if you are like me and living on a shoestring budget). It works fine. And finally your saddle pad. At least buy a $10 white saddle pad and then ONLY use it for shows. It’s even worse when you have a LOGO from a prominent farm/company/ or trainer and your saddle pad is dirty it reflects poorly on that person who is on the saddle pad as well.

It’s simple. If you look good and your horse looks good, then it’s proven that you will ride better. You make a better impression and it’s respectable to everyone involved. I know for a fact that I don’t want to stand out negatively,the easiest way to avoid that is simply to dress nicely.

Ok my rant is over. I just don't like anyone to disrespect the people who are out there painstakingly puttion on a show for us. These people spend countless hours out there so we can have a good learning experience. The lease we can do is dress nicely and be properly turned out.

signing off

~Mandy

A little about the Weekend and a tribute to Will

Words cannot express the pain of loss, of any kind of loss. People can tell you it will be ok, everything will be alright but when you experience a loss of someone you care about you just can’t agree with them. I lost my mother eleven years ago and to this day I think of her every day. I experience a dull pain whenever I think of the hole in my life where she isn’t and I thought that was the worst pain I could ever feel.  I think this past weekend I felt a kind of pain that rivals that to a degree that I never imagined possible.

What should have been a good first event of the season this past weekend at the Ark HT in Monroe, NC turned into a bittersweet, long, slightly surreal weekend. The trip down and setup was smooth, albeit the last 25 miles of the drive are hell on wheels because there is a light every 200 yards and Charlotte traffic is awful.And don't even get me started on the trip home (what was supposed to be 7.5 hours became 12 because of a horrible accident on I-75 which caused us to sit at a standstill on the interstate for 2 hours) Since the Ark is a one day, we knew it would be tight and we had a plan.

Saturday ran smoothly to start. Mira went first and put in a nice dressage test (in a downpour), but then the sun came out and so did Mira’s  “jackrabbit shoes.” She had wings on her feet that day and nothing was gonna make her touch a rail or a cross country fence. She finished in perfect time and we won our PT division. Kellie Driscoll took her own Remington who was foot perfect in dressage. It was during her warm-up for showjump that I heard something no one wants to hear at an event. There was a “hold” on cross country. You always fear that announcement. It means one of a few things and none of them are ever good, but as always you hope it was no one you knew and you pray everything is ok for all involved. I didn’t dream it would affect us because you only hear about that stuff happening to other people- not to the people you are directly associated with.

Kellie had an excellent show jump round and headed out slowly to cross country because the “hold” was still in effect. I told her I would run back to the barn to grab us some water and be back in a few, she had plenty of time (as an aside here since this isn't the main purpose of the post, Kellie did end up having a great run, as did Catherine and her pony Ransom who had an excellent first horse trail).

There is nothing in this world worse than walking around the corner of your barn aisle and seeing people standing at your group of stalls talking and just knowing something isn’t right. There is nothing to describe that feeling you get when you know it was a friend you were showing with for the weekend that was affected in that “hold” and  no way to express the pain you feel when you find out the horse that you have been around for years isn’t coming back to that stall.

Now, let me tell you a little about Willpower aka “Will”. When KC was selling him I wanted that horse so bad. He was such a nice animal. He had the cutest ears, floppy like the nicest dressage horse from the minute the rider got on him. He was quirky. He loved to jump and like little Mira put his heart into every fence. I have never seen a braver/bolder cross country machine either. We will never forget Will standing in the barn aisle ground-tied patiently waiting on Maggie to come back to him or the flames she clipped on his rump every winter.  Let’s also not forget seeing Maggie in the barn aisle late on those winter evenings blow drying Wills coat (yes I said blow-drying..with a hair dryer) because he would sweat and she didn’t want to risk putting him out wet.  He had a heart of gold and would let even the rankest beginner go for a trail ride on his back or teach an up-down lesson. Will earned nicknames like “Willard” “William” and “The Pirate”- so named by my niece, Maddie when she saw Maggie leading him to his field one day last summer with that ridiculous pirate fly mask from Rolex on.

Will was a good soul and as I said on facebook the other day, horses, like dogs show us unconditional love. Any animal that can repeatedly jump fences at a gallop when asked, or dance around a dressage arena, and keep his toes up over rails that fall even when they are exhausted goes to heaven. All dogs do, I truly believe horses like Will do too.

Will is in heaven Maggie, he died doing what he loved for the person he loved the most. He will be watching over you and your future horses giving you the "willpower" to fly around with wings on your feet.

RIP Willpower. Hang in there Maggie!

Signing off

~Mandy

Positive Show Nerves

Show Nerves.

Just that phrase inspires memories in all of us. It makes me think of the startbox on the biggest advanced course I ever ran, or starting into the dressage ring at an FEI test, or jumping around in front of the huge crowd at Stuart Horse Trials. There is nothing like it. It’s those butterflies you get when they start the countdown. It’s that flip-flop flapjack feeling you get when you walk a big course for the first time and it’s the queasy sensation you get when you’re about to do your jog on Sunday morning. I just wanted to talk about this because my students of late seem to have the same problems that I used to (yea right they are still there, but WAY less intense). There is nothing worse than coming out of that show ring and beating yourself up. It drags on your psyche and makes you believe in yourself less. What’s more is it starts to take its toll on your riding ability.

Someone once told me that I needed to be more positive. I needed to let the past go. I am the first one to tell you that unfortunately that isn’t possible. When something goes haywire (you lost your stock-tie, you forgot a movement in your test, you missed a jump/had a rail/had a stop, had a fight with your best friend, forgot to eat breakfast) those show nerves from the past rear their ugly head.

Now people can tell you to “think positive” and “let the past go” but it’s always easier said than done. When your staring down that big brightly colored oxer with the fish leaping off its wings your thinking, “my god I’m gonna die when Quit Bucking sees this he’s gonna show the spectators why he has this name” instead of “how cool is that fence, I hope they get my picture on Amelia Earhart over it!” The trick is you, that’s right YOU have to believe the second phrase. It took me a LOOOONNNNG time to understand that, but now I do, and I am happier for it.

How, you ask have I been able to change from the rider in college who bit people’s heads off (sorry Liz, Sarah, Jenn, etc.) when they tried to help my train wreck dressage to the rider who can go in the ring now and smile/giggle when my horse says,” hell no I won’t perform that canter transition today.” ???

It’s not fair is it? I’m not going to say it was easy or that I  just woke up one day and I was all Zen or something. It has everything to do with the people in my life and TIME. It took my trainers being positive but not mean and degrading. It took the great Amy Tryon telling me that a sports psychologist told her she needed to learn to take all of that nervous energy and learn to channel it into positive energy (which must have worked because she took Poggio to the WEG at Aachen and finished 3^rd) It took doing 87983982 shows and realizing that nine times out of ten there is not a single person really paying attention when you flub up.  Unless you are on a remarkable horse (I used to say grey, but these days there are so many of them I don’t) who decided to perform the good ol’ spin-n-dump (see earlier posts) in dressage then no one is going to remember you tomorrow. You are rider number??? on a bay horse in one of the seven dressage rings that went Friday or was it Saturday?<-- an aside here, if your name is Phillip Dutton or Karen O’Connor I am sorry but this doesn’t count….

What I am trying to say in this post is just this... Positivity gets you farther than you think (even from a skeptic like me).  You have to remember that hardly anyone is watching (usually just the people you truly care about) and that there is ALWAYS a next time. You go in the ring and do what you can with what you have.  HAVE FUN. That is why we ride horses isn’t it? I think that got lost somewhere along the way as well. And above all find SOMETHING positive about EVERY ride. It doesn’t mean you always have to end on a positive note. It just means, if that snotty pony jumped ONE fence today when he usually doesn’t even do that then you have  accomplished something. Did you stay in the ring for your dressage test event though your horse was doing pirouettes in a walk/trot test? Yes? OK, then we have a positive. Did you get around that 1* course even though you had two runouts at that damn corner because you are sure corners eat people so your horse thinks so too? Well, you got around, so next time you can do it again and on  time number 13498348 when your amazing advanced horse says, “its ok mom, we’ve jumped these before,  its ok just hold on”  you will walk away from the toughest course of your life knowing you have been blessed to have learned that one day things will get easier. It just takes time and positive thinking. A little of that and learning to channel those show nerves into good energy J

Signing off

~Mandy

Camping and other sorts of things

Today we got our group together for our first outing of the year. Mira and crew (meaning- Pony/Rem/and Willard ) will be heading to The Spring Horse Trials at the Ark in about a month and now that I have rejoined USEA (have yet to upgrade her to FULL and rejoin USEF but hey who doesn't love broke eventers who procrastinate) I can send my entry off and get EXCITED! I mean who doesn't get excited to start their season? Who do you know that goes, "ugh, here we go again? I gotta train to go jump some big solid dangerous potentially life threatening fences and I just don't wanna do it." If you do know someone who says that please recommend they take up Knitting. SERIOUSLY? I am PUMPED! I just don't know how you couldn't be?

So to start I have been really working hard on Mira's canter transitions and despite her chagrin we are progressing. Slowly. And we have been practicing being slower over fences (if you know my mare she is a good jumper...she jumps like a firecracker smacked her in the rump right before takeoff ) and for myself to be quieter in the tack (although some of the girls on my team from school have watched me jump and are amazed at how quiet I am...I totally have them snowed lol) all to make us look as if we are "floating on a cloud" at the apex of the jump. Who am I kidding? I'm just trying to stay on most days.

And if the weather holds we are going to school some cross-country this weekend. I know I'll be riding a hot tamale but I as I tell my students there is not a word to describe that feeling of jumping a big table when your horse stretches his body to get to the other side. If there ever was a "though shalt fly without wings" moment that would be it. Adrenaline aside, it's the closest thing to flying without wings. It's times like that, that make me marvel at why more people don't try our sport. I mean who wouldn't want to run at breakneck speed at a solid obstacle on a 1000+lb animal who may or may not listen when you ask them to stop. Its my kinda fun.

Now lets add the element of camping in there. In the past on our awesome horse trial camping escapades we have been trapped in trucks because we were missing pieces to the tent, stuck in terrible thunderstorms holding down the tent corners, setting up on rocks not realizing we have done so and waking up feeling as if someone has punched us over and over in the back and sides, and freaking out because we were convinced something was outside the tent and going to get us. We have decided despite these shortcomings that it wasn't "that bad"  to camp again. What this means is sometime in the next three weeks I have to FIND the damn tent, set it up to make sure the pieces are all there, and then figure out if I can get it taken down again (which usually involves a lot of cursing and band aids from trapping fingers in varying parts of the tent). Then we have to get to said event early enough that we are not phishshlapping eachother in the dark while we have way too many "cooks in the kitchen" setting the thing...in the dark...at 9pm

So if your out and about and end up at the Ark look for Shamrock Eventing. Miss Airheart and I will be running Prelim/Training. Maggie Hitron and Willpower (a Shamrock Eventing Adoptee) will be either doing the P/T or Preliminary, Kellie Driscoll and Remmington will be doing the Training/Novice and finally the cutest pony in the world Long Run's Ransom and Catherine Germer will be doing his first recognized HT at Beginner Novice (shameless plug here- Ransom is for sale and there is not a cuter/sweeter/ more perfect pony in the world).

signing off
~Mandy